recreation and society in africa, asia and latin america (rasaala) vol.1 no.1 (a journal of spread...
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Recreation and Society in Africa, Asia and Latin America (RASAALA)
Volume 1 Number 1 March 2010
Published by SPREAD Corporation
Sustaniable Programs for Reducing Educational and Avocational Disadvantageswww.spreadcorp.org
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Editor in chief
Neil Carr
Department of Tourism,The University of Otago,
P.O. Box 56, Dunedin, New [email protected]
Editorial Board
Rachid AmirouProfesseur des universits, Universit de
Perpignan et Paris 12 .
Responsable du dpartement tourisme, ESC
TroyesEmail:[email protected]
Christine N.BuzindeThe Pennsylvania State University,
Department of Recreation, Park and
Tourism ManagementUniversity Park, PA 16802
Email: [email protected]
Matt Forss
Private PracticeEmail: [email protected]
Abdelhadi HalawaDepartment of Wellness and Sport Sciences,
Millersville University,Millersville, PA, USA.
Email: [email protected]
Kirsten HolmesSchool of Management,
Curtin University of Technology,AustraliaEmail: [email protected]
Pablo IdahosaAfrican Studies Department,
Vanier College,
York University,
4700 Keele StreetNorth York, Toronto On. Canada.
Email: [email protected]
Edward L. JackiewiczDepartment of Geography,
California State University, Northridge, US.Email: [email protected]
Lynn M. JamiesonDepartment of Recreation, Park, and
Tourism Studies,Indiana University - Bloomington, US
Email: [email protected]
Tess Kay
School of sport and exercise science,Loughborough University, UK
Email: [email protected]
Jay MafukidzeUniversity Of Regina, Sask. Canada.
Email: [email protected]
Muhammad Aurang Zeb Mughal,Department of Anthropology,
Durham University, UKEmail: [email protected]
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Jerome Singleton
School of Health and Human Performance,Dalhousie University,
Nova Scotia, Canada
Email: [email protected]
Eileen O'Connor
School of Human Kinetics,University of Ottawa, On. Canada.
Email: [email protected]
Iheanyichukwu Nwokoma Osondu
Department of History,Geography and Political Science,
Fort Valley State University,
Fort Valley, GA 31030
Email: [email protected]
Hazel TuckerTourism Department, University of Otago,
P.O. Box 56, Dunedin,
New ZealandEmail: [email protected]
Managing Editor
Femi J. Kolapo,
University of Guelph,
Guelph, On., [email protected]
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A Special Issue on Lifestyle Migration
Guest editor, Edward L. Jackiewicz
Table of Contents
Guest editors introduction to the special issue on lifestyle migration 1-4
Edward L. Jackiewicz and Jim Craine . . . . . 5-29
Destination Panama: An Examination of the Migration-Tourism-
Foreign Investment Nexus
Annie Linderson . . . . . . . . 31-52To enter the kitchen door to peoples lives: A Multi-Method
Approach in the Research of Transnational Practices among
Lifestyle Migrants
Mari Korpela . . . . . . . . 53-73Me, Myself and I: Western Lifestyle Migrants in Search of
Themselves in Varanasi, India
Omar Lizrraga Morales . . . . . . . 75-92The US citizens Retirement Migration to Los Cabos, Mexico.Profile and social effect
Reviewers for the current issue . . . . . . 93
.
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Guest editor, Edward L. Jackiewicz
Department of Geography
California State UniversityNorthridge, CA 91330-8249
Introduction
Growing up in the northeastern United States with its long, cold winters, relatively expensive
cost of living, excessive traffic, crime, etc., the desire to retire in Florida was a dream to which
many aspired. Indeed, many aspects of life, including retirement seemed so much less complex
than they do today. My parents fulfilled their dream and relocated to Floridas Gulf Coast
shortly after I left for university and joined many fellow Northeasterners and Midwesterners
seeking sun, year round golf, early bird dinners, and more affordable living; all of which were
readily attainable. As we entered the new millennium, traditional retirement destinations in the
US, such as Florida and Arizona, began to lose many of the attributes that made them appealing
to retirees in the past and thus the migration flows began to disperse to less traditional
destinations. Moreover, retirement or amenity-driven relocations are no longer just for the
elderly, as this special issue illustrates.
Social Scientists have become increasingly interested in what is being labeled lifestyle
migrations. For Benson and OReilly (2009: 2) lifestyle migration is the spatial mobility of
relatively affluent individuals of all ages, moving either part-time or full-time, to places that are
meaningful because, for various reasons, they offer the potential for a better quality of life.
Thus, they are not driven by job opportunities or solely by economic reasons that have driven
much of migration throughout history. However, before we settle on lifestyle migration as the
accepted definition of this movement, others who have conducted research in this arena have
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Introduction
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employed the terms of International Retirement Migration (see Williams, et al. 2000) and
Residential Tourism (see McWatters 2009; Rodriguez 1998), both of which are used in this issue
to describe such movement, although I feel that lifestyle migration is a more encompassing term
and therefore more pragmatic in describing the heterogeneity of this group.
The aim of this special issue is to introduce some of the breadth of research being done
on this topic, broadly defined. The importance of these population movements will continue to
increase as baby boomers continue to retire and others sour on life in industrialized countries
and have the means to move abroad. Scholarly research is still in its early stages and thus it
remains a fertile avenue for research. Questions abound as to which destinations are most
popular and are they able to retain their popularity despite increasing competition from locales
throughout the world. Moreover, how long can some countries afford to offer extremely
generous incentives to would-be migrants before social, economic, and environmental stresses
reach their breaking point? A casual review of the demand, i.e. migrants seeking an international
destination; and supply, i.e. places luring potential migrants; suggests that the supply may soon
outweigh the demand jeopardizing the long-term future of this form of development.
This issue illustrates some of the diversity of topics and approaches to research that have
emerged over the past several years. Researchers from various disciplines have taken an interest
in lifestyle migration, which is reflected in the differing approaches to the topic. In this issue, we
hear from geographers, anthropologists, and social scientists as they shed light on the diversity of
the lifestyle migration process in various parts of the world.
The first article, by Edward Jackiewicz and James Craine, examines the surge of lifestyle
migrants relocating to Panama. The focus here is on the national level as they question the
sustainability of the project and whether or not Panama should embrace, i.e. subsidize; lifestyle
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migration as part of their development arsenal. They also bring attention to the dealmakers or
middlemen in the migration process, in this case the company International Living, who
specializes in connecting would be migrants to destinations throughout the world.
The second article is by Swedish anthropologist Annie Linderson, who provides us with a
methodological piece on how to do research on this topic. The paper is based on her research in
the Costa del Sol, but its applicability is versatile and could be embraced by those doing research
in Asia, Africa, or Latin America.
This is followed by an article by Mari Korpela using extensive interviews with
Westerners who have migrated to Varanasi, India. Many have eschewed the Western lifestyle
and left with the intention of finding a better life in India and ended up finding themselves and
now many of those who leave Varanasi return on an annual basis and have formed their own
community there.
The final article of this issue is by Mexican social scientist Omar Lizrraga Morales who
takes a critical stance on the increasing presence of Americans in the popular tourist destination
of Los Cabos, Mexico. He argues that the growing presence of Americans has resulted in deep
social and environmental problems that jeopardize the sustainability of the region and make it
increasingly difficult for locals to cope due to rising costs of living, environmental degradation
and social exclusion.
References
OReilly, K. and M. Benson. 2009. Lifestyle Migration: Escaping to the Good Life? In M.
Benson and K. OReilly (eds). Lifestyle Migration: Expectations, Aspirations and
Experiences. pp. 1-13. Farnham: Ashgate.
McWatters, M.R. 2009.Residential Tourism: (De)Constructing Paradise. Buffalo: Channel
View Publications.
Rodriguez, V., G. Fernndez-Mayoralas, and F. Rojo. 1998. European retirees on the Costa del
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Sol: A cross-national comparison. International Journal of Population Geography4:2 ,
pp. 91-111.
Williams A.M., R. King, A. Warnes, and G. Patterson. 2000. Tourism and international retirement
migration: new forms of an old relationship in southern Europe.Tourism Geographies, 2(1): 28-49.
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Destination Panama: An Examination of the Migration-Tourism-Foreign
Investment Nexus
Edward L. Jackiewicz and Jim CraineDepartment of GeographyCalifornia State University, Northridge
Abstract
Panama has emerged as an important destination for US citizens seeking an affordable
and exotic place to invest, relocate or live out their golden years. The result on the
Panamanian landscape to date has been uneven and its implications to the Panamanian
economy and society warrant attention. The flow of new residents and money, both ofwhich have been made relatively easy by liberal government policies, have spurred
growth immediately evidenced by the abundance of half-built skyscrapers in the capital
city and burgeoning non-urban communities complete with golf courses and other
amenities typical of retirement communities in the US. The objectives of this paper are
twofold: first, we aim to build a conceptual framework in an effort to better understand
the myriad of factors that intersect to establish such movements; and second we examine
how this rapid influx of US culture and economics promote and perpetuate what we
argue is a questionably sustainable neoliberal economic agenda.
Keywords: residential tourism, globalization, neoliberalism, Panama
Introduction
Panama is an increasingly important destination for the flows of people, money, and
ideas that circulate throughout the Americas, often with uneven results. Panama has
found, at least temporarily, a niche within the region (and world) as a safe place to invest
and the concomitant economic advantages are now evidenced by rapid commercial and
residential development in the capital city and in more remote yet often more
economically and/or aesthetically desirable locales throughout the country. The country
has established a highly favorable tax climate for investors, including homeowners, while
at the same time launching an extensive marketing campaign in combination with many
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local and foreign private companies to lure tourists and potential long-term residents to
what is promoted as an environmentally rich country friendly to international tourists,
investors, and retirees. Our emphasis throughout the paper is on the growing North
American (primarily US) communities whose inhabitants range from retirees, part-time
residents, tourists, to investors. The intense promotion of the tourism and real estate
industries (not necessarily separate as we discuss later) has obviously hastened human
and capital flows into the country with economic, social and environmental implications.
Indeed, based on a report by Prima Panama, a real estate promotion company, there are
now 107 residential towers of at least 20 stories each valued at $3.2 billion under
construction in metropolitan Panama City alone (see Lakshamanan 2007). The same
report claims there are 11,000 apartments scheduled for completion by 2010. The average
price on a new condo in Panama City is US$289,000, but some luxury places can go well
into the millions. In an effort to analyze the confluence of these activities and their
potential for sustainable, equitable growth in Panama we borrow from several streams of
literature including: globalization/neoliberalism, residential tourism, international
retirement migrant and citizenship/identity. As such our paper is cognizant of the
territorial institutions of governance that regulate these spaces and the extent to which
opportunity has availed itself to all members of society in a democratic fashion.
Situated within these broad frameworks, we tie together several strands of inquiry
that help to define contemporary Panama. Because of this mode of development, Panama
is similar to many countries in the region that have become highly reliant on foreign
investment and the influx of people (i.e. investors, tourists, seasonal residents, and
laborers), a situation that leaves Panama exposed to the uncertainties characteristic of the
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hyper-capitalistic neoliberal world. As such, our focus here is on macro-level
developments with some discussion of local-level phenomena. Panama is by no means
the only country experiencing these trends, but it does seem to be at or near the forefront
of a model of development that is highly dependent on foreign investors, foreign visitors,
and foreign-born residents and therefore could be a bellweather for things to come
around the region and globe.
Global-Local Connections
Our discussion of the dominant economic imperative in Panama can be seen in the work
of McMichael (1996: 26-7): Local processes, and local expressions of globalization, are
then situated in an historically concrete, rather than an abstract context. We believe this
is a very concise and apt description of the term new economy especially as it pertains
to the North American homebuyers engagement in a specific economic transaction. One
attribute of a globalized new economy is the extreme hypermobility of capital,
particularly its ability to overcome the historical and political boundaries of nation-states.
A second attribute is the effect of the new economy on spatial outcomes at local scales,
chiefly within the global city that Sassen (1998: 86) describes as strategic sites for the
valorization of leading components of capital and for the coordination of global economic
processes. These two characteristics identify both the economic transactions and the
cultural implications of our engagement with these new economies of globalization.
The ability to acquire commodities such as a home in Panama, a process made
easier by the Internet and organized sales forums, is indicative of the changes in scale and
speed that typify globalized financial activities. Money, according to Barnet and
Cavanagh (1996: 361), has become free of its place. The Internet functions as a site for
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transactions, a place completely free of labor unions, minimum wage laws and other
encumbrances, particularly taxes (Mander and Boston, 1996) where North Americans,
as consumers, are able to eliminate any temporal-spatial limitations that interfere with
their desire to purchase a commodity. Buyers are able to largely bypass the normative
real estate agent-facilitated transaction and are thus placed within the nexus of
deregulation their money has now indeed traveled faster, farther, and in ways never
envisioned by banking legislation and regulatory authorities (365). Buyers are capable
of making these forms of transactions because price controls on their desired commodity
have been lifted, creating attractive price differentials. The middleman (i.e. real estate
agent) is transformed by, or at least now subordinate to the Internet or the group sales
activities that are the chief facilitators of such transactions and, at the same time, create a
sub-industry of potential buyer tourism, i.e. those who travel from abroad to tour
potential retirement/investment properties throughout the country. These types of
transactions have contributed to the economic reorientation towards home ownership in
foreign countries brought about by the Structural Readjustment Programs discussed by
Bello (1996). Buyers have become part of the dynamic economic restructuring process
through the liquidity of capital they have transgressed the local and positioned themselves
within the global. By utilizing the globalizing effects of deregulation, buyers have
contributed to a further loss of significance for the Panamanian state and to the
emergence of the supranational. In this instance, the primary role of the state is as
facilitator by creating an attractive investment/retirement destination.
The new Americanized communities become local expressions of globalization.
The urban developments embodying the sensibilities of the intruders reflect the
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architectural aesthetics of the home country itself, a landscape that contains several
conflicting elements: contemporary consumer capitalism embodied in modernist
architecture that sweeps away all trace of local history and tradition and local qualities of
space that are to be respected. McMichael (1996: 42) states, As global integration
intensifies, the currents of multiculturalism swirl faster. Under these conditions, which
include the juxtaposition of ethnically distinct labor forces and communities, the politics
of identity tends to substitute for the civic (universalist) politics of nation-building. This
concept of speed is common to the creation of North American communities in Panama:
things move too fast the available commodities are increasingly valorized so there is
little time for contemplation of effect because of the desperation to keep pace with
something that is always on the verge of disappearing. Sassen (1996: 84) comments on
experiences of membership and identity formation that represent new subjectivities and
McMichael (48) states global integration crystallizes the local, even to the point of
generating reaction to global analysis. The purchases of North Americans present a
struggle for space within the now threatened geographic place of Panama and the
economic, social, and political confrontations within the amenity-rich (which not by
coincidence also investment-friendly) spaces depict the end of history for the
Panamanians. These occupied spaces represent a community struggling to survive a
contested problematic future for a globalized capitalist Panama that is now both
consumer and consumed.
The economic transactions that make Americans part of the new economy has
also given them access to this contested space. Culture has itself become a form of capital
and, like its financial counterpart, culture has become hypermobile and transnational. The
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visual expressions of the processes of globalization that are represented by the homes of
the North American relocators resonate with equal intensity to multinational consumers
of the landscape. A landscape that must meet the imaginary of the US retiree ensuring
that their international foray is not too alien. They have thus participated in the new
economy in a multi-level manner. They have used the financial aspects to find
advantageous consumer conditions that are supranational in nature. They have also
redefined local affects, within the contested spaces of the globalized city, through their
representations of America in a Panama that struggles to comprehend its hybrid identity.
Residential Tourism/International Retirement Migration: Structures and Agency
Just as the lines between international tourist and international migrant can get blurred, so
has the terminology surrounding this subject. The two most commonly used terms are
International Retirement Migration (referred to elsewhere as IRM; see King, et al. 1998
for a detailed discussion) and Residential Tourism. We prefer the latter for this
discussion for several reasons as outlined by McWatters (2009): 1) it has a scholarly
tradition in describing the movement of Northern Europeans to Southern Spain (see also
Rodriguez, 2001); 2) their pattern of behavior is often similar to that of tourists; and 3) it
conscientiously drops the word retirement because many of these individuals are not
retirees. Another potentially slippery issue is defining who is actually a residential
tourist. For example, some may be seasonal migrants who continue to work in some
capacity either in their host country or are able to work from afar.
The accelerated movement of people from the United States or Canada to Latin
America, is fueled by several interrelated factors. First, many people in the US are
retiring at a younger age and/or living longer with greater resources and in turn greater
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flexibility with their retirement decision-making. Second, many more people have
greater international experience and familiarity with foreign places which makes places
like Panama more accessible and more desirable. Finally, many traditional retirement
destinations in the United States have become expensive and many are perceived or
experienced as too crowded, thereby negating the major pull factors that initially lured
retirees to destinations like Florida or Arizona. These adverse factors have driven a
greater number of investors/retirees to seek international destinations, as is evidenced by
the recent real estate boom in Panama.
In many ways, Panama has supplanted Costa Rica as the trendy place for US
citizens to relocate. In the 1980s, Costa Rica offered many incentives to lure US
investors there but has since rolled back many of these policies to curb migrant flows.
The incentives currently offered by Panama are inspired by 1980s Costa Rica and
include: liberal landownership laws, a one-time tax exemption of up to $10,000 on
imported goods, a tax exemption on newly constructed properties for 20 years and a low
2.1% tax on other properties, low cost healthcare (most US migrants purchase private
insurance), a dollarized economy, not to mention discounts at movie theaters, restaurants,
medical services (e.g. dental, optometry), hotels and resorts, utilities, et al. These
incentives have given Panama a comparative advantage over many of its neighbors; not
to mention the historical linkages to the Panama Canal.
The increasing flow of individuals from the United States and Canada to Central
America in many ways imitates the retirement migration to Florida in the postwar period
but, as is the case with Panama, there are potentially adverse consequences to the local
economy, culture and environment. This is not to say the mass migration to Florida did
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not create problems locally but the move further south to Central America represents a
migration stream that is ripe for investigation.
The Individual: tourists, migrants or both?
One of the initial obstacles in doing research on residential tourism is obtaining accurate
and/or reliable statistics. Within the US, the Department of State (DOS) collected this
information until 1999, but has since stopped due to security reasons. Even when they
did collect this information they were little more than estimates based partly on
registration with the US embassy in the host country. Data can be gathered from host
country censuses, but of course they would not necessarily be accurate because many
residents would not be counted, notably those who are part time residents. By any
estimate, the number of US residents in Panama has historically fluctuated due largely to
political events. The Panamanian census reveals an increase of 136% between 1990 and
2000, due likely to the 1989 overthrow of Manuel Noriega and return of former canal
workers and US military personnel who left when the Canal was handed back to Panama
(MPI 2006). There has not been a census since 2000, but by all accounts there has been a
swell in the number of US residents in Panama since that time.
Visa statistics are another way to obtain data on the number of US residents
living in Panama. Of course, these numbers are also prone to inaccuracy as not everyone
needs to apply for a visa as many apply for tourist visas if they live there part-time.
Nonetheless, these numbers highlight that the number of migrating retirees/relocators is
on the rise, as the number of visas issued to US residents more than tripled between 2003
and 2005. Panamanian officials state that US citizens represent 2/3 of foreign resident
visas issued over the past several years and between January 2003 and March 2006 at
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least 1,379 Americans have received such visas (see Lakshmanan 2007). Granted, this is
not a huge number but it should be viewed as more useful in revealing trends than
enumerating migrants.
Categorizing and conceptualizing this type of movement raises some provocative
questions without easy answers. Are these individuals who decide to buy a home (which,
it should be noted, is often a second home) in a foreign country and reside there for only
several months a year considered a resident of that country? If they retain citizenship and
an address in the US are they migrants or tourists? Neither? Both? With the onset of
globalization and the increasingly free flow of money and people these population
movements are becoming increasingly more complex and difficult to pinpoint. Urry
(1995) has argued the need to examine these leisure-related activities amid the wider
social relations in which they exist, a condition that Williams and Hall (2000: 29) argue is
pertinent to the study of tourism and migration because of their complex causal
connections. Indeed, tourist destinations become relocation/retirement destinations
because they are both often amenity-rich areas.
Much of the previous work on the links between tourism and migration has
focused on how European tourist destinations can become retirement destinations (see for
example Williams, et al. 1997). This tourism-retirement nexus is hastened by second-
home buyers who, upon retirement, turn their vacation home into a retirement home
(Williams et al. 2000). We argue that the popularity of owning a home in Panama is
related to scalar economic and cultural outcomes of globalization. How this process
defines and complicates conceptions of citizenship is much less clear. We believe the
term residential tourism functions best in its ability to define conceptions of citizenship
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and spaces of contestation. The use of this term within the economies of Panama
transforms the home into a commodity that is a part of the much larger rubric of
consumed goods within the global marketplace.
Residential tourism thus becomes a historically concrete outcome, similar to
McMichaels set of relations and based on and constructed by social forces put into
place and supported by a set of capitalist relations driven by the desire to consume and to
own. Residential tourism becomes another industry designed to perpetuate the hegemony
of the Northern capitalist economies. For Panama, the subordinate cultural and historico-
economic relationship complements the First World notion that buying and selling is
natural and that Panama is thus more natural in this respect than the United States.
Spatial availability in destination countries like Panama are often the result of the
inequalities of the historical processes of capitalism and are, according to Wijers (1998:
71), relegated to the informal and unregulated labor market without rights and without
protection [where] more dubious and unprotected labor markets have developed
internationally. Residential tourism becomes, then, an economic manifestation of desire
that constructs the spaces of Northern pleasure and fantasy.
Linking Tourism and Retirement
We argue that there is a strong connection between tourism and relocation/retirement in
both the economic and social spheres. Panama emerged from the Noriega era embracing
a new economic model that included promoting tourism and attracting investors from the
United States and Canada. To see the effect of this model one has only to note that the
number of international tourist arrivals (it is logical to assume that investors/relocators
are part of this trend and data on them alone is not available) increased from: 345,000 in
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1995; 534,000 in 2002; and 795,000 in 2006. Once a tourist arrives in Panama, it is near
impossible to avoid being bombarded by the real estate mania sweeping the country. In
addition, even a cursory exploration of Panama-related websites will reveal a link to or
information about living in Panama, further illustrating the dramatic effects and
prominence of this new economic phenomenon.
Panamas National Tourism Council was founded in 1983 to promote tourism and
like many government agencies began to lose its power as a result of the recent shift
toward neoliberalism and the concomitant increase of tourism investments that allow
tourist exemptions from import duties, income, and real estate taxes--pull factors that
have helped open the door for the residential tourism increase. Thus, as soon-to-be
investors from the United States and Canada were looking for options outside normative
communities the Panamanian government was creating an enticing environment for
potential investors and residential tourists. Not surprisingly, opportunists seized the
moment to connect the two.
It is important to note that the Panamanian government has not made the investor
friendly policies uniform throughout the country. Rather they have identified certain
areas as tax free zones as illustrated by the map below, which not surprisingly
encompasses the most aesthetically pleasing and tourist friendly locales throughout the
country. The subsequent description of each of these areas highlights their amenities.
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Zone 1, La Amistad: Located in the provinces of Chiriqui and Bocas del Toro, characterized by the presence of La
Amistad International Park and Baru National Park. The structure is composed of 61attractions (47 are natural and 14
are cultural) which make this zone propitious for ecological tourism. The main areas of this zone are concentrated in
Boquete and to a lesser extent Cerro Punta, Volcan and the Sereno River.
Zone 2, Bastimentos: The province of Bocas del Toro has one of the largest Marine Parks in the country which
includes beach areas, reefs and the presence of the Afroantillian culture which is most present in the architecture of
the city of Bocas del Toro. The tourist areas of this zone are made up of 78 attractions (58 are natural and 20 are
cultural), predominating sandy, white beaches and crystalline waters which are ideal for diving and ecological tourism.
Zone 3, Arco Seco: The Arco Seco is conformed by the coastal areas of the provinces of Herrera and Los Santos,
unique for their traditions and socio-cultural events which attract large amounts of visitors.
Zone 4, Farallon: Farallon includes 80 kilometres of Pacific Coast, distributed between the provinces of Panama and
Cocle. Its tourist potential is comprised of 24 natural attractions of which 17 are beaches and the
remaining attractions are in the area of the Anton Valley for ecological tourism.
Zone 5, Metropolitan: The principal attractions are related with Panama City, shopping, business activities, historical
and cultural attractions as well as the natural parks that surround it. This zone has 126 attractions (72 are natural and
54 cultural).
Zone 6, Portobelo: Portobello is located in the province of Colon; it consists of beaches and innumerable diving
areas, a National park and an assembly of Historical Monuments. Zone 6 accounts for 82 attractions (54 are natural
and 28 are cultural) mainly reefs for underwater explorations and ruins of the forts of Portobelo.
Zone 7, San Blas: The Caribbean of the Kunas, an exotic place due to its islands and areas of corral reefs and white
sandy beaches guards one of the most traditional and native of the Americas.
There are 200 attractions in this zone (173 are natural and 27 are cultural). Its potential is characterized by more than
300 coral based islands and associated white sandy beaches.
Zone 8, Archipelago de Las Perlas: Composed of more than 30 islands and 83 beaches in the Pearl IslandArchipelago, complimented by ample coral reefs and innumerable sport fishing areas. Zone 8 is made up of
136 attractions all of which are natural, characterized by beaches and fishing spots.
Zone 9, Darien: The tourist potential of this zone is made up of 72 attractions (39 natural and 33 cultural). The main
attraction is the Darien National Park declared by UNESCO as a Biosphere Reserve ideal for the ecological and
adventure tourism, additionally it integrating the indigenous groups that live in this zone.
Source: http://www.panamarealtor.com/real-estate-law-incentives/projects-in-special-tourism-zones
Figure 1. Panamas Free Zones.
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Whos behind the push?
While nearly all of the big real estate companies (Century 21, Coldwell Banker, Re/Max
to name just three) from the United States now operate in Panama, one particular
company, International Living (www.internaitonaliving.com), maintains a niche by
connecting potential residential tourists to desirable destinations around the globe,
including Panama. Created in 1979, International Living now plays a vital role in
promoting real estate investments around the globe, including Panama, as evidenced by
their advertising slogan: Living better, for less, overseas. Although one of the
companys primary interests is to increase investments in Panamanian real estate,
International Living also offers a wide variety of travel activities including river rafting
and various sight-seeing adventures, as well as touring residential communities, thereby
making an explicit link between tourism and migration.
International Living has also contributed to the increase of investments in
Panamanian real estate by offering a complete range of housing from luxurious houses to
apartments, from properties in metropolitan Panama City to properties in the foothills of
the mountains to multi-acre beach lots. Panamanian real estate is especially presented as
more affordable and more desirable than other places in Central or South America due to
the fact that foreigners in Panama are offered the same property ownership rights as
Panamanian citizens in addition to the low price of property insurance and lower taxes
are all presented as incentives appealing to potential retirement migrants from the United
States and Canada. As a result, Panama has been ranked by the International Living
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Newsletter as the worlds best place for Americans to live abroad, an accolade that
further contributes to the increase in residential tourism to Panama.
In addition to the aforementioned amenities geared to investors and retirees,
Panama has the additional pull factor of numerous U.S.-standard healthcare facilities
staffed with U.S-trained, English-speaking doctors that are readily available and easy to
access. Panamas modern technology infrastructure also helps ease the transition for
Americans moving into a new environment and lifestyle. Panama has easily accessible
satellite television and high-speed, voice-over Internet. Although technology is beneficial
for communication it nonetheless has the potential to distance them from the Panamanian
people, culture, and lifestyle.
Thus, for many expatriates, Panama is the perfect place to enjoy a low cost of
living, a booming economy, and a government that supports business and foreign
investment. However, how is this all benefiting Panama and how long will it last? The
country is posting tremendous growth numbers in real GDP (7.5% increase in 2007), but
distribution remains an issue and the separation among class and ethnic lines is of great
concern. In fact, 40% of Panamas population lives below the poverty level and their
wealth distribution is second worst in the hemisphere, next to Brazil. This situation is all
too characteristic of the endemic neoliberal economic policies introduced by the
Panamanian government in the 1980s and 1990s, especially those emphasizing
privatization and market competition, that threaten lower income communities in Panama
and elsewhere throughout the region. The separation of classes, often easily visible on
the landscape, is becoming increasingly evident as new high rise residential complexes,
gated communities, and resort areas typically have a strong security presence, either
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through gates and/or security guards, effectively separating them from the local
population.
One of the distinguishing features of the Latin America society at-large is its stark
and widening socio-spatial differentiation that caters to the elites, and in this context
including the transnational residents. For example, in his research on Managua, Rodgers
(2004) argues that with this new pattern of segregation in cities dotted with walls and
enclaves, public space is eroded and those living on the inside feel little responsibility
for those on the outside. This would be particularly true for Anglo residents who can
easily escape the local realities of Latin America while being surrounded by people of a
similar background inside the gated community, elite high-rise, or isolated rural enclave
thereby challenging or at least questioning the notion of citizenship or belonging.
Of Citizenship
Exactly what is meant by the term citizenship is open to many definitions and meanings
within the various political nation-states and cultures of the world. Sennett (1994: 310)
endows citizenship with a particular freedom, the ability to move anywhere, to move
without obstruction, to circulate freely, a freedom greatest in an empty volume. Mitchell
(2000: 138-39) directly links citizenship to freedom of individual movement within the
spaces of the landscape. This type of citizenship is based on the externalization of those
deemed undesirable and can be accomplished through design or through law
[enforcing] the fact that such exclusions are seen as a wholly desirable aspect of
citizenship. Holston (1998) draws on T.H. Marshalls work on the civil, social and
political rights of citizenship and sees citizenship as a membership in or of a political
unit (usually the nation-state) that secures certain rights and privileges to those who fulfill
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certain obligations. Thus citizenship becomes a concept that formalizes the conditions for
full participation in a community such as the residential tourism communities of Panama.
Within these concepts, tensions and spaces of resistance are created between local,
national and supranational units. There are continuing struggles to maintain power over
defining the rights of citizenship and the economic forces necessary to maintain those
rights. People can create their own, alternative spaces of citizenship which either
challenge or reinforce the inconsistencies and inequalities built into the political systems
of nation-states at any scale.
Economically, residential tourist citizenship takes one of two forms. One, membership in
a political unit gives an individual (or even a group) the ability to fully participate in
society that brings with it the protection of property rights and personal wealth. By
participating in the economy (as consumer or producer), members are guaranteed the
rights and entitlements contained within the free market society. A second form sees
market inequalities denying some members their citizenship entitlements. This allows the
state to intervene and offset these inequalities thereby ensuring the opportunity and the
right of everyone to participate in the complete range of social activities.
For residential tourists to be citizens (not necessarily in the legal sense) there must
be some degree of interaction within the economic structure of a larger membership-
providing entity. In Panama, these interactions are often controlled by the third party or
the dealmakers who bring the investor and property together thereby easing the
transaction process, but at the same time minimizing or eliminating the degree of
interaction typically characteristic of the road to citizenship, in a formal or informal
sense. Becoming part of the community allows residential tourists to recombine what
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their new culture has differentially transmitted to them, create new value from these
recombinations and make the new value available to each other through exchange.
Growth, either personal or some form of nationalism, comes from the differences in the
transmission of culture facilitated by the entitlements of citizenship, but if those
exchanges are minimized then how do we come to understand these interactions?
Cosgrove (1989: 123) states, Any human intervention in nature involves its
transformation to culture, although that transformation may not always be visible,
especially to an outsider. Most humans live in societies that are divided by class, caste,
gender, age, and ethnicity or even physicality. Citizenship, as Mitchell has stated, is often
grounded in exclusionary practices, intentional or otherwise. An economically dominant
group like residential tourists will seek to establish its own experience of the world as the
objective and valid culture of all people. Power is then sustained through the reproduction
of culture. This is clearly shown in the residential tourism industry, be it through
gentrification (or redevelopment), through modernist urban constructions such as the
high-rise condominium boom in Panama City, through one-size-fits-all architecture that
inhibits bodily motion, and through the struggle to obtain a livable wage. If anything,
residential tourism is a good indication of the varying interpretations and forms of
citizenship and how there can be great differentiation across political boundaries (formal
or informal) and at any scale or economy. Also worthy of consideration, but beyond the
scope of this paper, are the perceptions of Panamanians and residential tourists have of
each other. Do the Panamanians view the hundreds of foreign residents housed in the
mountain enclave of Boquete as citizens? Similarly, do the new residents care to be
considered Panamanian while they are insulated in their community protected by the
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security of their American neighbors, gates, and guards? Also, one must consider the
role of the Panamanians who build, clean and protect these properties. Obviously, there
is the necessary employee-employer capitalist relation, but within these communities who
is the insider and who the outsider?
According to Kempadoo, paraphrasing Marx (1998: 25, n.6), humans make their
own history, but not in circumstances of their own choosing. The ways in which
Panamanians produce and reproduce their social, economic and political life emphasizes
this interwovenness of human agency and social structure helping to make clear the
contested and problematical nature of the domain of the residential tourist. Panama, for
some Panamanians, is becoming a marginalized economic endeavor complicated by the
unavailability of those most affected to provide a voice offering a more provocative
reading of the Panamanian landscape.
The popularity of residential tourism defines the concept of neoliberal
reterritorialization in two ways. The economies associated with the industry reinforce the
dominant capitalist social constructs of globalization and illustrate the commoditization
of Panama and its consumption by a Northern hierarchy. Promotional web pages on the
Internet are clearly a site of capitalist desires in which space (in its globalized
hybermobility) is easily transported to or visited by participants in the economies of
residential tourism. Appadurai (1996: 35) likens these to mediascapes that, tend to be
image-centered, narrative-based accounts of strips of reality, and what they offer to those
who experience and transform them is a series of elements . . . out of which scripts can be
formed of imagined lives, their own as well as those of others living in other places. The
removal of the physicality of the transaction complicates issues of this imagined
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neoliberal utopia even more. No matter the space, be it real or cyber, Panamanians are
deprived of a voice or, as of yet, are unable to be heard within the discourses that attempt
to speakfor them. This absence of a voice, although defining in one way, complicates
matters of transnational landscapes in others. To attempt to provide a voice without
having existed within or experienced the social, political and economic life of the
Panamanian is yet another exoticizing of the Other based in Western neo-colonial
traditions.
Seen as a form of neocolonialism, the formation of these residential spaces would
seem to indicate a growing awareness of the vulnerability of the disenfranchised to the
desires of a residential tourist capable of exploiting deficiencies in the Panamanian
economies. This further exposes the problem that markets are by nature indiscriminate
and inclined to reduce everything including Panamanian territory to the status of
commodities. Those commodities are often held to have little or no value to their
previous occupants especially when based on economic class or race and are excluded
from newer postcolonial social formations that treat them as waste products better used
for profit-based ventures within capitalist economies such as residential tourism.
Clearly, Panamanian land (and the residences on that land) has a historical
meaning that can embody histories from personal scales to international scales. This land-
home dialectic has economic meanings that can embody conceptions of both slavery and
privilege but can also contain meanings relating to cultural imperialism. The ability of the
Panamanian individual to contest any question of ownership as articulated by the state
might result in a resistance to the homogeneity created by the new reterritorialization.
The neocolonial retirement communities transcend scale, to realize an imagined
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community thereby enlarging scalar space from the Panamanian local to the
international residential tourist industry. That industry imposes its own meanings of land
ownership onto the landscape by incorporating narratives of desire and consumption into
the transactional process and Panamanian meanings and histories are often lost in the
objectification of the desires of the capitalist North. Thus, transnational residential
tourism can inflect these formations only by a transgression of meaning local histories
and personal meanings are now reinscribed on Panama and its new occupants.
A Bit on the Local by way of Conclusion
What this rapid transformation is creating is an unsustainable pattern of development that
is prone to crises and disenfranchisement, and that is ultimately leading to economic and
social decay. The fickle nature and local hardships resulting from this 'fast' capitalism is
well documented (see for example the Asian and Argentine crises during the last decade).
The amenities that are luring investors and migrants into Panama is being replicated in
many areas throughout the world as evidenced by the International Living website where
places from Uruguay to Bulgaria to Vietnam are advertised. Thus, there is obvious
competition and once the potential profit in Panama becomes minimized or superceded,
new opportunities will avail themselves and the dollars and people will likely follow.
Latin America has a long history of 'boom and bust' economies that historically
involved agricultural and mining activities. We are even witnessing it now with the loss
of maquiladora jobs to lower cost markets such as China. There is no reason to believe
that the same will not occur with the residential tourism model. Perhaps it is best to
recognize the tourist-residential experience as an export vulnerable to shifts in global
demand and the vulnerability of these markets, since they are as reliant as activities
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beyond their borders as they are on activities within the host country. Again, note how
quickly temperaments toward Argentina changed once their economy hit a bump in the
road and investment fled the country and is still slow to return.
While the emphasis of our argument is at the macro- or national scale, the
emergent spatial pattern within the country is revealing. Panama City remains the hub of
most real estate activity, particularly that which caters to entrepreneurs who in turn serve
foreign clientele. It is also the 'jumping off' point for most visitors to the country and the
majority spend at least a day or two there to experience the Canal and other urban
attractions before heading off to the rainforests, islands, and/or rural communities. The
few skyscrapers that dominated the skyline of Panama City a few decades ago were
referred to as the cocaine towers due to the belief that they were built on cocaine
money laundered through real estate purchases during the Noriega regime. They no
longer stand alone as new investment has poured in building office towers and high-
priced mixed-use condominium/retail developments. Now the many unfinished buildings
represent the new flood of money from eager investors looking for the next investment
opportunity. On the rapidly growing outskirts of Panama City, there are high-priced
residential communities sprouting up complete with the services designed to
accommodate the new residents such as schools, shopping areas, and improvements to
the local infrastructure. Prices in these exclusive neighborhoods can easily reach
US$500,000, although a similar place in South Florida or Southern California could fetch
three times as much. At the same time, older areas of the city are slow to improve as
many neighborhoods are neglected.
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As a final point, it should be noted that this model of development also has its
critics within Panama. The boom is certainly underway as evidenced by the small
retirement haven of Boquete in the Chiriqui province near the Costa Rica border (see
McWatters for a detailed chronicling), which is expected to add at least 5000 more
retirees in the next 15 years, creating serious social and economic concerns. One of the
pressing issues is employment. Ruben Lachman, President of the consultancy Intracrop
(as quoted in Batista 2007: 78), adds that ..in Boquete alone there will be the need for a
workforce of 25,000 by 2008, while seven years ago only 6,500 people were employed in
this area. In Panama City, Jose Bern of Empresas Bern, a large hotel and real estate
firm, said one of his biggest problems is finding enough workers to complete the projects
(as quoted in Lakshmanan 2007). This type of growth puts enormous pressure on the
local environment and culture. The potential negative impacts are amplified because, as
Raisa Banfield, a local architect, puts it no plans of organization or long term
sustainability have been implemented (quoted in Batista 2007: 78).
Another leader in the international retirement migration is movetopanama.com.
The services they provide include: real estate advisory, insurance and immigration
assistance. Similar to other companies, they organize tours to urban and rural residential
communities. Panama is also aided by the positive press it has received over the past few
years, often hailed as the best or near the best places in the world to retire. They have
capitalized on the baby boomer population that is now reaching retirement age, but that
demographic bubble has its limits. As Mario Vilar, owner of Move to Panama,
comments we cannot expect a 20-year boom in residential tourism. Being conservative,
I give it ten more years (as quoted in Batista, 2007: 79).
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Biographies of Authors
Edward Jackiewicz is an Associate Professor of Geography at California StateUniversity, Northridge. His primary research interests are within the broadspectrum of development and post-development with recent interests in: tourism,lifestyle migration, and parks as public space. He recently co-edited the bookPlacing Latin America: Contemporary Themes in Human Geography (Rowmanand Littlefield 2008).
Jim Craine is an Assistant Professor of Geography at California State University,
Northridge. His current research centers on media geography, particularly thedevelopment of new theories for the visual engagement of geographicinformation. He is a co-editor of Aether: The Journal of Media Geography.
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To enter the kitchen door to peoples lives: A Multi-Method Approach in the
Research of Transnational Practices among Lifestyle Migrants
Annie LindersonDepartment of Cultural Anthropology and EthnologyUppsala UniversitySweden
Abstract
This article introduces and evaluates an ethnological qualitatively-based multi-methodapproach in researching lifestyle migrants transnational practices in destinations oflifestyle migration. Drawing on research of individual and collective practices oftransnationality among lifestyle migrants in a well-established region of lifestyle
migration, a multitude of methods will be discussed and reviewed; participantexperience, serial interviews, observation, walk along interviews and media orientation.
Key words: Lifestyle migration, Qualitative Methodology, Transnationality
It is said that Ethnologists enter the kitchen door to peoples lives in order to
acquire and gain knowledge of what it is like to stand in that other persons shoes. It is
there in the domains of the everyday life such as in a kitchen where the concrete daily
activities and conversations serve as the key to an understanding of micro implications
and possibilities that stand in sharp relation to macro structures of global and
international policies.
This article offers an ethnological multi-method approach to use in the aspiration
of entering a transnational kitchen door to lifestyle migrants lives in regions of lifestyle
migration. In essence the methodology in question falls under the umbrella of anethnography used within Anthropology. However, while the Anthropologist traditionally
has devoted extended periods of time in field in the study of the Other, the proposed
ethnological multi-method approach offers possibilities of entering and reentering the
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field over shorter periods of time through a diverse set of gateways. The methodology
that will be recommended in this article is traced back to the roots of Ethnology in being
a discipline engaged with the cultural study of a daily life familiar to the researcher, often
in the national context of the researcher. Due to a close relation to the object, a diverse set
of methods has been a means to make the researcher unfamiliar to the common and well-
known surrounding and cultural life. In other words, the Ethnologist has had to exoticize
the object in order to distance her- or himself from the seemingly familiar, especially if
studying cultural processes in the own society or among individuals of the same
nationality as the researcher (cp. Mirad, Kockel, & Johler, 2008). Since a multitude ofmethods results in different sets of data, the multi-method approach contributes to a
reflexive, multi-layered and contextualized micro understanding of the phenomenon in
question.
Within research of lifestyle migration the approach aims to highlight different and
tangible components of the lifestyle migrants daily experience. To follow is a broad
review drawn on ethnographical research of transnational practices among Swedish
lifestyle migrants that have relocated to the southern Spanish coast, Costa del Sol, which
aims to illustrate possible theoretical definitions of transnational practices and suggest
methods to use in qualitatively-based studies of lifestyle migration in general terms.
Indeed, the methods described below are easily transferable to locales in Asia, Africa or
Latin America. By using the ethnological multi-method approach to enter the kitchen
door to peoples lives, Ethnology can serve as a contribution in researching lifestyle
migration.
To enter the transnational kitchen of lifestyle migrants
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To enter the inner domains of a house symbolizes in this case to take up ethnographical
research on transnational practices among lifestyle migrants that has settled down in a
destination of tourism and leisure on a permanent basis. More specifically, the article
proposes views of how to study individual and collective relations to both old and new
country and an emerging transnationality that is practiced through the interconnection.
While approaching the kitchen door of the lifestyle migrants, the transnationality is
defined as practices to be on the one hand expressions in life stories of the transnational
life, and on the other, agency-based practices, found in the making of an everyday life led
in relation to two separate countries. The two categories of practices are considered to becomplementary and enable two different theoretical approaches; narrative analysis and
phenomenology. The intersection of constructivism and phenomenology of lived
experience constitutes a fruitful combination in giving a broad understanding of the
transnational phenomenon of permanently residing in a country, other than the country of
origin (Frykman & Gilje, 2003, p. 9; Frykman, 2006, pp. 69ff). The Swedish Ethnologist
Jonas Frykman affirms this approach by stating that two legs are more stable than one
(Frykman, 2006, p. 70).
The focal concern is practices of telling and making a transnationality from below
(Smith & Guarnizo, 1998a, 1998b. See also Povrazanovi Frykman, 2004), among
lifestyle migrants with dual (or multiple) frame of reference. The transnationality can be
expressed and made through organized and institutionalized practices, as well as throughnon-organized and spontaneous practices in the everyday life of the lifestyle migrant. The
dualistic or multiple perspectives derive from the general and compassing tendency of
migrations not [being] singular journeys but tend to become an integral part of migrants
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lives (Faist, 2000, p. 13). The concept transnationality is the result of having acquired
multiple bonds connecting ones life across the territorial boundaries of nation-states as a
consequence of mobility and migration. The dual (or multiple) frame of reference creates
flows of things not [only] bodies (Mahler, 1998, p. 77) across national borders. The
result is a transnational experience embedded with news, memories, and stories between
global, national, regional and local settings. Thus, bodies can be situated on location in
country of residence while being emotionally affected by things or activities concerning
the country of origin in the same degree as if the person would actually be in the old
country. In essence the aim is to study a transnational experience that is expressed andmade, as well as how flows of ideas, values, and cross-cultural expressions affect both
the individual and the collective in the daily transnational life.
Collectively a shared consciousness is created among the lifestyle migrants of
living a similar transnational experience and having a similar dual or multiple frame of
reference resulting in cultural reproduction. A shared transnational consciousness implies
a collectively acknowledged common identity of perceiving a mental state of being at
home and away from home. Together the individuals create a transnational space made
of shared memories, stories, history, and experience (cp. Faist, 2000; Faist, 2004;
Jackson, Crang, & Dwyer, 2004). Furthermore, the transnational cultural reproduction,
associated with two or more places, blend together into a bricolage of expressed
traditions, norms and habitual action within the group. Transnational space, as a
theoretical concept, is by some scholars filled with a similar content as the concept
diaspora. Thus, the concepts, as analytical approaches, are at times used synonymously
(Povrazanovi Frykman, 2004; Wahlbeck & Olsson, 2007). That is to say, place-bound
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transnational practices collectively expressed and made create and constitute diasporic
communities (Povrazanovi Frykman, 2004, pp. 82ff). The concept diasporic community
is here defined as the establishment and meaning attributed to a collective formation with
connotation to a shared place of origin in a certain geographical territory other than the
origin (for definitions of diaspora, see Safran, 1991; Cohen, 1997). This has relevance
when analyzing and describing shared features and meaning of an imagined or actual
diasporic community that are articulated and practiced among the lifestyle migrants. To
give emphasis on the collectiveness of this dimension the concept diasporic community is
chosen rather than transnational space (cp. Anderson, 1983; Cohen, 1995; Vasta, 2000).Noteworthy is the fact that the resemblance of such community involves and is
constituted by all types of lifestyle migrants, whether they be permanent residents,
seasonal migrants, second home owners or long-stay tourists (King, Warnes, & Williams,
2000, pp. 43-44). They all figure in the specific articulation of a diasporic community in
destinations of lifestyle migration, when such is set in practice.
As mentioned earlier, the transnational phenomenon derives from at least two
separate localities. Expressed and made transnationality and diasporic experience does
not stop at the borders of a given territory but exceeds to involve multiple places, being
global, national, regional and local. To be contextually sensitive to the multiple places
and structures affecting the transnational everyday experience should, therefore, be a
given ambition throughout the analysis. The ideal is to engage in a multi-sitedethnography, thus to follow the lifestyle migrant to the multiple sites where they are to be
found (See Watson, 1977; Marcus, 1995; Hannerz, 2003; Hannerz, 2001). However, lack
of time and the practicality of conducting fieldwork might hinder a multi-sited
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ethnography. It is therefore advisable to strive for a multi-sited awareness even though
the transnational practices originate and happen on one specific site (cp. Kleist, 2004,
Anthias, 1998, p. 564).
The practices are viewed as a process of making the world understandable to live
in for the individual. Thus, it is an everyday process. At times, it is goal-oriented toward
specific results. Often the process is something seemingly unconscious, effortless and
spontaneous (cp. Reksten-Kapstad, 2001, p. 11; Faist, 2004, p. 170). The practices are
considered to be a tool kit of expressions, symbols, and narratives, as well as habits,
skills, and styles, used to order life and orientate oneself in relation to how the life is ledabroad. When the individual uses a tool, he/she also demonstrates the command of a
competence or a capacity that governs the way to act and behave that is suitable for the
given situation, time or place. Thus, this knowledge is a resource for adapting to or
managing a transnational life in relation to and within a group or groups (Swindler, 1986;
Casey, 1996, p. 34; Frykman & Gilje, 2003, p. 48). This makes the practices specific to
context, place and time.
A Multi-Method Approach tothe telling andthe making
A definition of the practices of transnationality is now given. However, the question
remains of how to acquire the content that is hidden in the making and in the telling. The
ethnological line, as indicated, argues for a multi-method approach filtered through the
reflexivity of the researcher. This signifies that the researcher through a multitude of
methods enter different gateways to capture the activities and perceptions of the
transnational everyday life led by lifestyle migrants in places of lifestyle migration. These
entrances will also put the researcher her- or himself in the light of the study which
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demands a thorough reflexive discussion on the behalf of the researcher in order to draw
attention to the many implications of using a physical and emotional researcher self in the
field (cp. Davies, 1999). By using different and separate methods, entering the kitchen
door of the everyday life offers disparate layers of knowledge and understanding. This
enables a research with a deep and broad perspective. Rather than digging deep in
singular spots, finding more of the same, the multi-method approach opens the
ethnological gaze to new and unexplored terrains which in the long run works
complementary. By constantly removing the focus and positioning oneself sometimes as
an outsider, and then changing to the insider position, the study can be both analyticallyenriched and strengthened.
The multiple methods pointed to in this article are as follows: participant
experience, series of conversational interviews, observation, walk along interviews and
orientation through media. Throughout a presentation of each method there is an
aspiration of using and adjusting the methods to the lifestyle migration context of leisure
and relaxation, as well to the specific places of tourist destinations. The context of each
separate lifestyle migration destination generates specific cultural patterns that can be
benefitted from when applying different methods.
Transnational subject
To put a multitude of methods into a practical research approach, the first gateway into
the kitchen of the lifestyle migrant is to use the researcher self as a transnational subject.Inspired by the phenomenological approach (Frykman, 2006; Frykman & Gilje, 2003;
Bengtsson, 2001) the use of the own actions, interactions, impressions and thoughts of
the transnational lifestyle is a way to gather understanding while residing in a destination
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of lifestyle migrants during a period of fieldwork. The daily life in field is recorded in a
reflective field diary. Being an insider in this sense is inspired by the well-established
method participant observationbut expanded intoparticipant experience (Hansen, 2003,
p. 160). Time and engagement has proven to be vital in participating and experiencing the
transnational reality in situ. Camouflaged by the distinguished feature of a constant
circulation of tourists and temporary or permanent lifestyle migrants in and out of areas
common for lifestyle migration, participant experience as a method is most suitable to the
culture of such regions.
The reception of a researcher in lifestyle migration areas differs but my ownexperience is that the sudden appearance of me as a researcher was not being perceived
as anything extra ordinary. I was just like any other person whose motives for dwelling in
the area was seldom questioned or asked for. Certainly for those initiated, my work as a
researcher was looked upon with fascination and curiosity although I was often kept at
arms length outside my role as a researcher. However, this too I found to be a notable
ingredient of the daily life the lifestyle migrants have adopted in my research the
atmosphere is opened to people of all kinds with a diversity of backgrounds which as
such are generally not of primary interest when getting acquainted with new people. It
seems like the main ambition is to stay present in the here and now, regardless of
previous achievements, networks, or status.
As a result of the welcoming environment, I easily became an actor within the
lifestyle migrant community and found a place where I could make informal contacts and
conversations on a daily basis, above all through institutions with connotations with the
home country of the migrants, like a church and a school. I took part in community
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activities such as singing with the church choir and with a smaller group of vocalists,
made visits to the school and gave a lecture there about Ethnology and my research
project to High School students, participated in the media that was directed toward the
lifestyle migrants, as well as engaged in the different types of social events in the
destination. The type of knowledge gained through this method is a first hand experience
of alterations in the group throughout the seasons, different types of networking within
the group, daily activities and interactions with the host society etc.
In this procedure the researcher self is central in the collection of data which puts
an emphasis on previous knowledge, experience, and the continuous reflexivity of thesefactors when using the self as a transnational subject. In my research, I gained help from
my previous experience in the area while being a student of the local language, as well as
conducting fieldwork related to my Masters thesis. Equally, my knowledge of the
language per se together with living several periods of my life in the country enabled a
pre-understanding of living in the country as a foreign woman. Hence, taking a
transnational stand during my time in fieldwork has not been difficult. It has rather
followed the common order of the lifestyle migration since research has shown it is often
preceded by holidays and other types of travel on location (King et al., 2000, p. 27;
OReilly, 2000, p. 25).
Albeit having a general pre-knowledge of the phenomenon as well as the host
country, the same pre-understanding has forced me to strive to frame myself from fixednotions that I have gained before hand. I have had to put myself curiously anew to dis-
remember or decode myself from preconceived notions of the lifestyle migration
everyday life (Frykman, 2006, p. 68). More so, my gender, age and private
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circumstances, such as not having children of my own, restrained me to naturally get
access to all events and places of the lifestyle migrant experience. Seldom could I join the
activities of the retired groups on an equal basis as the pensioners. Nor had I access to the
activities for families and small children. Thus, I was left out of the daily interactions and
conversations in cases like the mentioned. At the occasions where I naturally could take
part in such activities, my outsider position was emphasized since ordinary talk differs
depending on the participants similarities in age, gender, region of origin, length of stay,
reason for stay, etc. Circumstances like these ought to be taken into account while
interpreting the data of the method.Finally, it has been impor